Marsti Houtek
Marsti Houtek is a young Alternian troll living in Outglut during the time period of Hiveswap and Hiveswap Friendsim. Marsti was first revealed during the Hiveswap Troll Call event alongside Karako Pierot on March 7, 2018. Her bullet points were "didn't choose the scrub life. the scrub life chose her", "practices self-care" and "bath bombardier". Marsti was then featured alongside Karako again in Hiveswap FriendshipSimulator: Volume Fourteen. She was designed by Poinko. Her bullet points were altered as from December 6, 2018 to "Likes to clean", "Doesn't care if you think she's basic. In fact, it may be you who are basic" and "Esoteric medical knowledge". Etymology Her last name could be a modification of the word Houdek, which is a type of soil only found in the American state South Dakota. Her first name means "purification" in Sanskrit which fits her janitor like appearance. Her last name could be derived from the comet Kohoutek, which before its close approach, was promoted by the media as the "comet of the century" as it was expected it would produce a spectacular display of outgassing; because Comet Kohoutek fell far short of expectations, its name became synonymous with spectacular duds. Additionally, In 1973, David Berg, founder of the Children of God, predicted that Comet Kohoutek foretold a colossal doomsday event in the United States in January 1974. Her leaked placeholder name, "Scrubber", refers to her chosen occupation. Marsti is a rustblood that spends most of her time cleaning up after people. In the events of Hiveswap Friendsim: Vol. 14, the player sees Marsti having a heated argument with a purpleblood, the purpleblood demanding that Marsti leave his graffiti alone. Instead of deferring like how a lowblood is supposed to, Marsti stares the highblood down. Bad Endings If the player chooses to intervene, the highblood rounds on the player and punches them. Should the player choose to head uptown, the player ultimately decides that going to Zebruh's place isn't a particularly good idea. The player instead takes Marsti to Galekh's place, and she has little trouble tidying the place up. After the player's attempts to chat with her go awry, Marsti and the player are suddenly aware of a strange crunching noise. Mortified to discover Galekh's goat lusus snacking on the indigoblood's experimental novel, the player begins to panic when Galekh returns at that precise moment. Wordlessly, Marsti absconds through one of the windows, scampering down the hill speedily. Good Ending If the player chooses to mind their own business for once, Marsti streaks past the player, the furious purpleblood chasing after her. At the last possible moment, the player trips up the highblood and makes a run for it. Marsti nabs the player, ducking into an alleyway to hide for the time being. Talking to Marsti isn't as easy as the player hoped, for she seems to find the player quite bothersome and condescending at times. After helping Marsti clean the graffiti on the wall, the player casually inquires whether the rustblood has any plans for later. Should the player choose to head downtown to search for somewhere filthy for Marsti to clean up, the player runs into Folykl in an empty lot. The player's thoughtless words irk Marsti to no end, causing her to snap at the player to still their tongue. Once Marsti is done giving Folykl some helpful tips on how to manage her voidrot, the rustblood collects her cleaning equipment and walks off. The player trails after her and apologizes for being a bumbling idiot, saying that they just have a tendency of wanting to make things right. Marsti forgives the player as she's well acquainted with the feeling. Marsti is an indifferent and apathetic janitor, not particularly concerned with anything or what people think of her. She appears to have a hard time giving a damn about other people, and she blandly asks why the player feels the urge to hurl themselves into dangerous situations. She also snaps that she couldn't care less about other people's opinions of her, even though she has a tendency to become rather defensive when people question her motivation or occupation. Her snarky and cynical demeanour can be attributed to the fact that she's at the bottom of the Alternian social scale, since it means that she can never really amount to anything by virtue of the hemospectrum. Marsti is also shown to be a private person, outright stating that she isn't about to tell her whole life story to some random alien on the street. When the player attempts to have a conversation with her, Marsti isn't impressed with the player's desire to socialize, claiming that they're doing a piss-poor job of being a lookout as they're too busy asking her invasive questions. Even in the few instances where she lets the player in on a bit of info, the details are minimal and brief. Apart from that, Marsti is somewhat irritable and impatient. She finds the player's presence exasperating at best, their remarks and comments annoying and poorly-worded. When the player inadvertently implied that she's not enthusiastic about her current job, Marsti doubles down on her work just to prove that the player's wrong. She also thinks answering the player's numerous questions to be tedious in nature, for the player sometimes gets confused with troll terminology and cultural differences. Should the player keep making references to friends made in the past, Marsti grumbles that not all lowbloods are acquainted with one another, clearly getting frustrated with the player. As such, it can be inferred that she's slightly abrasive in terms of personality, though she does have a soft side to her. Despite her gruff attitude, Marsti is still capable of caring for others. Upon meeting Folykl, Marsti quickly notes that the goldblood has voidrot and offers advice on how to manage her ailment better. Marsti displays a surprising amount of knowledge regarding biology and medicine, even though she's fully aware that there is minimal chance that she would be a medic off-planet. When Galekh's goat lusus tries to eat her glove, she merely scratches the goat behind the ears as a distraction so that she can gently extricate her hand, hinting that she's not one for constant confrontations. While Marsti is indeed a neat freak, she only likes cleaning places that might prove to be a challenge for her. When the player offers her to clean an alleyway, she dismisses it as too easy. This is also the reason why she doesn't stick around in her hive and instead goes around town—she finds cleaning the same place numerous times an immense bore. She also mentions that her cleaning duties are all subject to her moods; should she feel like cleaning a certain something, she shall do so, dangers be damned. Marsti seems to get along fine with Folykl, even though the goldblood does not appreciate Marsti examining her. Even though Folykl proceeds to mock Marsti's knowledge regarding voidrot, the rustblood doesn't bristle at the insults tossed her way. Marsti proceeds to give Folykl some pointers on how to retain energy via keeping clean, and the player notes that while Folykl seems exasperated with Marsti's advice, she actually listens to every word. Gallery MarstiSprites.gif|Marsti's sprites from Hiveswap Friendsim. Friendsim Vol 14 select.png|Marsti in the Volume 14 character select (left). 36.5_marsti_houtek_original.png|Marsti's leaked card. protomarsti.png|A prototype design of Marsti. marsti proto.png|Concept art of Marsti closer to her current design. Trivia *According to the Extended Zodiac, her sign is Arittarius, sign of the Astronaut, making her a potential Derse Dreamer and Hero of Void. *Marsti and Karako were the only unrelated trolls introduced in the same Troll Call card that were featured together in their Friendsim debuts. *Marsti is the only rustblood to make her friendsim debut alongside a troll with a known sign at the time (As Ardata and Marvus, who debuted alongside the other rustbloods, didn't have their signs revealed yet). Category:Hiveswap characters Category:Hiveswap Friendsim characters Category:Trolls Category:Rust bloods